Oct. 8, 2011 – Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0. Bryzgalov’s first shutout as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers came against the Devils. Philadelphia’s Matt Read, who went on to lead all rookies in goals, found the back of the net for the first time at 2:41 of the third period. Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds accounted for the Flyers’ other two goals.

Nov. 3, 2011 – New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 3 SO. When the two squads met again, it was rookie Adam Henrique’s turn to shine. Henrique scored his first NHL goal to give us an early indication of the kind of season he would have. As was the case in their last meeting, Claude Giroux scored against New Jersey. However, this time around Patrik Elias proved to be the hero with a shootout goal.

Jan. 21, 2012 – Phildelphia 4, New Jersey 1. Claude Giroux got two assists, but it was Scott Hartnell that led the Flyers to victory. Hartnell netted two power-play goals, including the game-winner. Wayne Simmonds chipped in an empty netter and also recorded two assists. On the Devils’ side, this would be the first of two games where they allowed less than 20 shots, but still lost the contest.

Feb. 4, 2012 – New Jersey 6, Philadelphia 4. This was a truly bizarre contest. The Devils scored three goals in each of the first and second periods to take a 6-0 lead. In that span, they got two power-play goals from Kurtis Foster and Zach Parise also scored with the man advantage. On top of that, Ilya Kovalchuk got a Gordie Howe hat trick.

The Philadelphia Flyers came back hard in the final period, outshooting the Devils by an unreal margin of 24-1. With 6:29 still remaining in the contest, the Flyers had reduced the Devils’ lead to two, but New Jersey managed to hold on after that.

March 11, 2012 – New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 1. Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t get into a fight this time, but he did score a goal and register two assists. As impressive as that is, the night belonged to Martin Brodeur, who became the first goaltender in the history of the league to win 650 regular season games. The next best goaltender, Patrick Roy, won 551 contests in his NHL career.

March 13, 2012 – Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0. The Flyers bounced back in the second half of their home-and-home series. Ilya Bryzgalov, who was allowed to rest on March 11, earned his third straight shutout. Danny Briere netted a goal and an assist for Philadelphia while Sean Couturier accounted for the game-winning goal.

The San Jose Sharks’ game against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday was huge and while Ryane Clowe touching the puck with his stick while on the bench will certainly attract the most attention, it was far from the only highlight. Two Sharks players, Joe Thornton and, yes, Clowe, picked up Gordie Howe hat tricks on Thursday for scoring a goal, registering an assist, and getting in a fight. You can view Thornton’s fight against Drew Doughty, as well as Clowe’s separate fights against Matt Greene and Kyle Clifford below:

The San Jose Sharks ended up winning the game 6-5 in a shootout. The two teams are fighting for the Pacific Division title and have 94 points each with one game remaining in the regular season.

Ilya Kovalchuk has been having a monster season for the Devils but getting a Gordie Howe hat trick? That would seem pretty unlikely… Unless you’re the Philadelphia Flyers trying to hold him down today.

Kovalchuk scored a goal and added two assists in the Devils’ 6-4 win over the Flyers and Kovalchuk even played the role of enforcer when Brayden Schenn came calling. Kovalchuk and Schenn squared off and sure enough, Kovalchuk can handle his business.

Who knew that Ilya Kovalchuk would be the guy to score goals and throw fists for the Devils? Perhaps the next 13 years in New Jersey won’t be so bad.

When Evander Kane and Tanner Glass earned Gordie Howe hat tricks this year, they weren’t too shocking to see. Forwards earning them is most likely. But Chicago’s Steve Montador nailing one down? Now that’s a stunner.

Montador pulled off the trick against Columbus getting a goal, an assist, and a fight with Derek Dorsett to get it done. Seeing Montador score a goal is the most stunning part of this troika. Who knew he had that in him?

Tanner Glass can now say he and Evander Kane have something in common now. Glass earned the NHL’s second Gordie Howe hat trick of the year last night against the Sabres and joining Kane as the only players to do so this season.

Glass assisted Mark Flood on his goal in the first and scored a goal of his own later in the period on Ryan Miller. In the second period he dropped the gloves with Cody McCormick which you may have seen earlier. Kudos to Glass on completing the trick, although a win would’ve been a nice way to cap it off.